By IANS,
Bangalore : The Election Commission Saturday set the poll process in Karnataka rolling by notifying the first phase April 23 in 17 Lok Sabha constituencies across the state, an official said.
The remaining 11 of the 28 parliamentary constituencies in the state will go to polls April 30.
“We have received the gazette notification from Election Commission principal secretary Shangara Ram, informing us about the poll process in 17 parliamentary constituencies in the state on April 23,” a state Election Commission official told IANS here.
As per the notification, candidates can file nominations from Saturday in the 17 constituencies till April 4. Scrutiny will take place April 6 and candidates can withdraw by April 8. Campaigning will be allowed till April 21.
The constituencies going to polls in the first phase are Chikkodi, Raichur, Belgaum, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Bidar, Koppala, Bellary, Uttar Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore South, Bangalore central, Chikkaballapur and Kolar.
A total of 20.57 million voters, including 10.25 million women, are entitled to exercise their franchise in the first phase.
After delimitation, as India’s IT hub, the number of parliamentary constituencies in Bangalore has increased to three from two until now.
Redrawing of parliamentary and assembly constituencies has also led to the formation of Bangalore Rural in place of the erstwhile Kanakapura in the old Mysore region.
“We will know by late evening how many candidates have filed nominations on the first day in their respective constituencies,” the official added.
By-election to the Bidar assembly segment in north Karnataka will also be held April 23 along with the parliamentary polls. The by-poll has been necessitated following the resignation of Congress legislator Gurupadappa Nagmarpalli to join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state.